Rupert Murdoch's iPad newspaper The Daily is to launch in the UK in the first half of this year

Rupert Murdoch's iPad newspaper the Daily will be available in the UK within months, depending on when Apple's new online subscription model becomes available in this country.

The chief digital officer of Murdoch's News Corporation, Jon Miller, told the Abu Dhabi Media Summit that the Daily would be available in western Europe "not too long from now". When asked if that would be in the first half of this year, he answered yes.

The Daily will be available via iTunes, although the exact timing of the launch is uncertain as several British publishers have expressed unhappiness with Apple's plan to charge them 30% of their subscription fees for all iPad apps it sells via its digital store.

There were also suggestions from one company source that News Corp will also create a UK-specific version of the Daily at an unspecified future date – but others at the media giant emphasised there were no immediate plans for a British edition of the title.

Miller told the audience that the Daily faces a "moment of truth next week" when it begins to charge. Until now the iPad newspaper has been available on a free trial in the US, but readers will have to pay to continue reading the product. Charges have been set at 99 cents a week or $39.99 for a year.

Although the Daily has been free so far, it is understood that a few thousand people have already signed up to the year-long subscription. News Corp has not released any numbers, but it is estimated that the figure is in the region of 5,000.

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